By law, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs serves as the senior military adviser to the president, the president's National Security Council and the secretary of defense. But the chairman is not directly in the chain of command that extends from the president to the secretary of defense to commanders in the field. He is the public face of the U.S. military and weighs in on major policy decisions but is not actually in charge of any troops.

The time has arrived where we must understand the realities of the dark forces amongst us.

30 September 2011 Last updated at 03:03 ET Tevatron atom smasher shuts after more than 25 years